Confession- for years I go back and forth if having a photography business is worth it. Obviously I still have it so the pros always out weigh the cons. Sometimes when everything is crazy and I miss some of my kids events it’s really hard. It really breaks my heart. I always go back to feeling like there is something I can really give back to people with this skill. It’s unique and specialized and important. So that is why I started working more with the Cache Valley for Hope foundation. They put me in contact with families effected by cancer who could use some free family pictures. If I can’t help them then I have a huge list of other photographers willing to help as well.
I also love doing my missionary event every year. To have some beautiful photos of your son or daughter while they are off in the world for a couple of years is priceless. Especially when they might not have been to afford them otherwise.
Every year I do this I never really know what to expect. I usually have a lot less people come then I think and I’m sad I didn’t put the word out better. It costs a lot of money to get a missionary out the door (plus money every month) and most people don’t have the money to have nice missionary pictures taken. I feel bad when there are people who could benefit from this but didn’t hear about it.
This year I tried to put the word out more- and boy did it work! One of my random posts reminding people about it exploded on Facebook! Where I usually reach around 500 tops on a post (Facebook never shows my followers my posts!) this one reached almost 12,000. I was so worried that 100 missionaries would show up and I would be dying! The good news is I had more then last year, kept busy the whole time and was able to help each missionary (28 of them!) get at least 12-15 pictures. I even got there 30 minutes early and was busy the whole time.
The biggest surprises this year was the amount of girls that showed up! Only 6 out of the 28 were boys! I’m not sure how that happened but it was fun change. Three missionaries are going to Washington state but all different missions. And 3 are going to the Philippines all different missions and languages. I had a lot of them come that are going somewhere in the states, a few to Europe and one to South America. I loved chatting when each one about where they were going and what language they were going to be speaking.
One girl told me that her mom had seen my post (they live hours away too!) and had overnighted her Texas flag so she could have it for her photos. I had to get a photo of her with her envelope it was too funny. Another one had her roommate come to get her picture taken, came home and told her to throw on her dress and get to the temple! She made it in time and I was able to get her some photos too.
A HUGE thanks to my helpers Kate and Emily! You ladies were lifesavers!
